For years dentists have been using standardized utilities, including electricity, pressurized water and air in the dental operations for maintaining, cleaning, repairing and operating on patients' teeth. These utilities are provided to power and operate the various tools which are required in a very efficient and comprehensive way. Thus, without the various utilities to drive and power these tools, the work of a dentist would be very difficult and, in turn, very agonizing to the patient.
One of the necessary utilities that is utilized by dentists, both in the past and present is high pressure air. High pressure air is used to clean areas around the teeth or gums after the drilling and preparation work has been accomplished. In addition, high pressure air is used in an aspirator for providing suction to remove excess saliva and liquid from the patient's mouth. A third use for high pressure air is to drive the dentist's drill which is so important to his work. Although there are other types of drills available, the air driven drill is quite useful in that an air turbine driven by high pressure air drives the drill collet and the drill piece at extremely high rotational speeds. This provides a very effective drilling operation when working on the teeth, while at the same time, providing cooling for the drill piece as well as the internal rotating components of the drill body.
In addition to the above described utilities it has been found desirable to provide a completely portable dental delivery system which can be easily transported from one location to another so that dental work can be performed on handicapped or paralyzed patients as well as shut-in patients caused by age or infirmity. In addition, there is a need for a portable dental unit of this nature which can be utilized in hospitals and convalescent homes. In order to provide a suitable portable dental unit it is necessary to provide a source of clean high pressure air which is required for operating many of the dentist's tools.
In a unit of this nature it is also desirable, if not mandatory, that the unit be extremely quiet because of the nature of the areas in which it will be used. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide a source of pressurized air wherein the compressor unit and system are completely self- contained, extremely quiet and have sufficiently high flow capacity to adequately perform all of the functions required.
None of the prior art devices which are known in the market place are capable of performing this function. In fact, there is no known completely portable dental unit that is presently available. As a result, the applicant's invention has made a completely portable dental unit not only feasible, but practical.